Despite many individual efforts to decrease energy usage for 2013
increased by 2.3 Quadrillion thermal units over the previous year. These
statistics have been monitored and presented by the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory (LLNL) in the most recent energy flow charts measuring renewable,
fossil and even nuclear energy.

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The annual flow charts are generated by the LLNL and illustrate the
nation's consumption and use of energy. The Laboratory also has released a
companion chart illustrating the nation's energy-related carbon dioxide
emissions. Americans' carbon dioxide emissions increased to 5,390 million
metric tons, the first annual increase since 2010.

Wind energy continued to grow strongly, increasing 18 percent from
1.36 quadrillion BTUs, or quads, in 2012 to 1.6 quads in 2013 (a BTU or British
Thermal Unit is a unit of measurement for energy; 3,400 BTU is equivalent to
about 1 kilowatt-hr). New wind farms continue to come on line with bigger, more
efficient turbines. Most new wind turbines can generate 2 to 2.5 megawatts of
power.

Natural gas prices rose slightly in 2013, reversing some of the recent
shift from coal to gas in the electricity production sector. Although this did
cause carbon dioxide emissions to increase in 2013, "the power industry is
building a lot of natural gas plants," said A.J. Simon, group leader for
Energy at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. "Gas plants are cheaper
than coal plants. Natural gas is going to be a winner into the foreseeable
future."

Overall natural gas use increased by 0.6 quads. Losses in the
electricity sector were more than offset by greater gas use in the residential,
commercial and industrial sectors. "2013 was a cold winter," Simon
said. "We expect to see continued high gas consumption in 2014, due to
another tough winter on the East Coast."

Nuclear energy was greater in 2013 than in 2012. "The use of
nuclear energy fluctuates a little from year to year," Simon said.
"It's likely that in 2013, fewer reactors were down for refueling than in
previous years." However, a few of the nation's about 100 reactors have
recently closed for good, such as the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in
Pendleton, Calif.

The transportation sector is using more renewable energy, specifically
biomass that is converted to ethanol. "This has been going up over
time," Simon said. "We're expecting the fraction of biomass in
transportation to remain relatively steady."

The majority of energy use in 2013 was used for electricity generation
(38.2 quads), followed by transportation, industrial, residential and
commercial. Energy use in the residential, commercial transportation and
industrial sectors all increased slightly.